THIS JUST IN: Millenials and Gen-Z kids aren’t as lazy and self-obsessed as many adults from other generations have asserted. Even though we are criticized for our love of trends, social media, and Netflix, we are human beings. We are citizens. And not only do we love our country, we are serious about living our lives and making our contributions.
For years now, young people have been greatly concerned about gun violence. Maybe because they have grown up “sheltering in place” and hearing about it regularly. Their schools have been locked down, drills are run regularly, but the shootings continue. There have already been 18 school shootings in the U.S. so far during the first seven weeks of 2018.
The events that have taken place in this country are crushingly tragic and the lives that have been destroyed and lost in the process are irreplaceable. Not to mention the damage done to all of their families, friends and the students who must live with PTSD or injuries sustained in the shootings.
And we have finally had enough. We have reached our tipping point.
We aren’t just sad. We aren’t just thinking. We aren’t just praying. We aren’t just blaming it on the serious lack of mental healthcare in America, or the “lack of good parenting” or whatever excuses people keep posting on Facebook and Twitter. Young people like the students from Parkland, Florida are demanding attention and getting it. #MeNext
We are angry. We are powerful. And we are coming for your guns.
Guns that people in leadership positions have decided they care about more than the children in their country–the children who are literally the FUTURE of this country. And don’t bother telling me people have a second amendment Constitutional right to own a semi-automatic assault weapon designed not for sport or hunting, but to kill people. And, as patriots, we should all support the second amendment. As the kids in Florida are saying, “I call B.S.”
Here’s the thing, true patriots care about the future of their country. True patriots care about how the NRA, many members of the GOP, and Trump are single handedly offering weapons that aren’t for protection, but for mass-murder, to practically anyone. And this is destroying children and the future.
Here are the facts: it’s more difficult to get a license to drive than it is to buy a gun. It’s more difficult to become a citizen than it is to buy a gun.
People who say they’re pro-life but also anti-gun control are hypocrites. Unlike them, we care about the lives of children even after they’ve left the womb.
We think that children should have the right to get through a school day. We think that American children have the right to life. That WE have a right to life.
And I hate that such a simple right as the one to LIVE is being questioned by gun loving fanatics and people making money from the sales of guns. I hate that I have to ask my little sister which classes she’s taking, not because I want to hear about what she’s learning, but so I can help her plan where the safest hiding spot is in each classroom. I hate worrying about my family, about my friends, about children that I see on the street. They deserve the right to get through a school day alive. We deserve the right to live.
The generations that have come before us seem to be the ones making decisions to serve their self-interests — potentially making our lives much more difficult through refusing to accept and act on the science related to climate change, soiling our country’s foreign relations, and giving large tax cuts to already wealthy people which will result in immense debt for us to pay, not to mention all of the other messes our generation will have to clean up.
But we’re going to clean them up, and we’re going to start now. We are going to start with guns because it relates directly to our survival. It is not even a political issue at this point. While Trump gives his thoughts and prayers by golfing in Florida, we’re going to stage lie-ins in Washington D.C. While GOP members scramble to receive more money from the NRA, we are going to protest.
And you can bet your bottom dollar that we are going to do everything we can to vote them out of their cozy, bigotry-lined, self-absorbed offices. Because they don’t care about us–they only care about lining their pockets.
But they’re not thinking long-term. Because pretty soon? The baby-boomers are going to fall flat from their burger-induced heart attacks, and we’re going to be the only ones left. That’s right, Paul Ryan. You better start trembling.
And those of us who are old enough are going to register to vote, if we haven’t already – We are going to walk out of our classes for 17 minutes on April 20th to show that we value our lives, the lives that were lost in Parkland, and the lives of so many that have been changed due to our country’s lack of reasonable gun control laws. Here in SLC, we are going to protest on March 14th and 24th at the Capital. We are going to encourage our friends and families to join us.
And we don’t want your thoughts and prayers. We want the lives of our generation back. We want those who are currently alive to stay that way.
We are strong. We are determined. We are your future.
And we are coming for your guns.